Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Lysts on the Lake List of 2012 Competitors

“Lysts on the Lake” producer, Steve Hemphill, has posted the list of competitors who plan to participate in this year's competitive jousting tournament. A total of 45 people are included on the roster(including Dawn Hemphill, the Lady of Honour, who plans to compete in the Skill-at-Arms portion of the tournament). The tournament consists of three competitions involving equestrian skill – Skill-at-Arms, Melee a'Cheval and Joust a'Plaisance – as well as a competition for the Award of Honour. All 45 competitors plan to participate in the Skill-at-Arms portion of the tournament; 35 have signed up to compete in the Melee a'Cheval; and a stunning 36 plan to compete in the Joust a'Plaisance.

According to the International Jousting League, “Lysts on the Lake 2011” which had 23 competitors overall – 18 of whom participated in the Joust a'Plaisance section of the tournament – currently holds the record for the largest competitive jousting tournament in the world by number of competitors. So “Lysts on the Lake 2012” is set to blow that record out of the water.

The list of competitors includes jousters from six different countries, including the USA, Canada, France, Australia, Norway and Belgium. The list of jousters also includes twelve female competitors (including Dawn Hemphill, the Lady of Honour). All but one of the women plan to compete in the Skill-at-Arms, six plan to compete in the Melee a'Cheval and seven plan to compete in the Joust a'Plaisance. Just the women alone would make for a reasonably sized tournament.

The Lysts on the Lake website is currently being updated. Hopefully, more information about this tournament will be available soon. Meanwhile, here is a highlight video of “Lysts on the Lake 2011.”